ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday told a US congressional delegation that drone attacks by the US were undermining the national consensus on the war against terror.

Talking to a four member US congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain which called on him, President Zardari urged the American lawmakers to persuade the US policy makers to give the drone technology to Pakistan, so that Pakistani security forces could carry out such attacks.

The president said that the economic cost of the war against terror amounting to $35 billion for the last eight years had almost paralyzed Pakistan’s economy.

President Zardari asked the delegation for the timely reimbursement of over $1 billion on account of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF).

Referring to President Obama’s new Afghan strategy, the president said that Pakistan had legitimate interests in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan, adding that US actions should remain on the Afghan side of the border.

The congressional delegation appreciated Pakistan’s role in the war against extremism and militancy and assured full US support in taking this war to its logical end.—DawnNews

NEW YORK: President Asif Ali Zardari has urged the US government to reimburse the 1.6 billion dollars that Pakistan spent on fighting extremism in the tribal areas.

The United States pays Pakistan for the anti-extremist operations from a special account called the Coalition Support Fund. Pakistan has not been paid for more than a year.

President Zardari made this demand in two separate meetings with US officials including special envoy Richard Holbrooke.

President Zardari also called for an early realisation of about six billion dollars pledged to Pakistan in the Tokyo conference early this year where international donors promised to help Pakistan overcome its economic crisis.

The President also sought an early adoption of the Kerry-Lugar Bill that may bring in another 1.5 billion dollars of annual US assistance over a period of five years. — DawnNews

NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister and Pakistan’s president are ‘likely’ to hold face-to-face talks on Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional summit in Russia, an Indian foreign ministry official told AFP.

Indian premier Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari will both be in Yekaterinburg for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting.

‘A meeting on the sidelines is likely,’ the Indian foreign ministry official told AFP.

Separately, an official who is organising summit meetings told Reuters that Singh and Zardari plan to meet on Tuesday.

The two will meet in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, the official said.

‘According to our information a bilateral Indian-Pakistani meeting is tentatively planned for tomorrow,’ the official, who asked not to be named, said. The exact format of the meeting was still unclear, he said.

It would be the first time the two leaders have met since last November’s Mumbai attacks, which India has blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

The attacks, which left 166 dead, prompted India to freeze a peace process with its fellow nuclear-armed neighbour and arch-rival. — AFP/Reuters

NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister and Pakistan’s president are ‘likely’ to hold face-to-face talks on Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional summit in Russia, an Indian foreign ministry official told AFP.

Indian premier Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari will both be in Yekaterinburg for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting.

‘A meeting on the sidelines is likely,’ the Indian foreign ministry official told AFP.

Separately, an official who is organising summit meetings told Reuters that Singh and Zardari plan to meet on Tuesday.

The two will meet in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, the official said.

‘According to our information a bilateral Indian-Pakistani meeting is tentatively planned for tomorrow,’ the official, who asked not to be named, said. The exact format of the meeting was still unclear, he said.

It would be the first time the two leaders have met since last November’s Mumbai attacks, which India has blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

The attacks, which left 166 dead, prompted India to freeze a peace process with its fellow nuclear-armed neighbour and arch-rival. — AFP/Reuters

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari and India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet Tuesday on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit here in a bid to restart the stalled peace process.

The meeting between President Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be held in Yekaterinburg – a city located where Asia and Europe meet, will be first one since the composite dialogue process initiated between the Pakistan and India in 2004, got paralyzed following the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan welcomed on Friday US President Barack Obama’s initiative ‘to strengthen democracy’ in Pakistan and his plan to provide billions of dollars in aid.

‘President Asif Ali Zardari welcomed (the) US president’s initiatives for Pakistan to strengthen democracy and his call to US Congress to pass a bill for $1.5 billion aid to Pakistan every year,’ the state news agency reported.

‘President Zardari said that Pakistan has always held the Pakistan-US relations in high esteem and his (Obama’s) announcements during a speech on a new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan will further cement these ties,’ it added.

‘We also want a regional approach because regional issues can be resolved with the support of regional powers,’ Mr Gilani said, adding: ‘We are in favour of this policy. They (Americans) have accepted our position (that) army action alone is not a solution for all these problems.’

Mr Gilani said: ‘I want to assure the world that Pakistan believes in peace, prosperity and progress of the whole world and we will not allow our territory to be used for terrorism.’

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told Reuters in an interview in Moscow: ‘I think the new Obama administration’s approach is a very positive approach. They are looking towards a regional approach to the situation.’

’Pakistan is willing to play an active, constructive role in this because we feel our peace and security is linked to Afghanistans … there is spillover.’

LONDON: Britain welcomed Monday the reinstatement of Pakistan’s deposed top judge and the cancellation of an opposition march as signs of “real political leadership” to defuse a threatened crisis.

“The steps taken to defuse the political crisis in Pakistan show real political leadership by all concerned,” said Foreign Secretary David Miliband in a statement.

President Asif Ali Zardari’s decision to reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and former premier Nawaz Sharif’s response in calling off the Long March “demonstrate that both men are willing to put the interests of Pakistan first.

“I hope that all parties will now quickly come together around a common agenda to consolidate the political steps made, and to agree measures that will strengthen democracy and impartial justice in Pakistan,” Miliband said.

ISLAMABAD: Advocating the need for recasting Pakistan-U.S. relationship into a long-term partnership for peace, stability and development, President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday asked President Barack Obama to help resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute that remains at the heart of South Asian unrest and challenges like extremism.

“President Obama understands that for Pakistan to defeat the extremists, it must be stable. For democracy to succeed, Pakistan must be economically viable,” Zardari wrote in a US newspaper article in which he congratulated the new U.S. leader on assumption of office and extended Pakistan’s “hand in friendship”.

As part of economic empowerment efforts, President Zardari called for swift progress towards realization of economic assistance expansion initiative (Biden-Lugar legislation) in Congress as well as the preferential trade program of reconstruction opportunity zones and said, “assistance to Pakistan is not charity.”

“The water crisis in Pakistan is directly linked to relations with India. Resolution could prevent an environmental catastrophe in South Asia, but failure to do so could fuel the fires of discontent that lead to extremism and terrorism. We applaud the president’s desire to engage our nation and India to defuse the tensions between us”, he said.

“Unlike in the 1980s, we are surrogates for no one. With all due respect, we need no lectures on our commitment. This is our war. It is our children and wives who are dying”, the president added.

Zardari renewed Pakistan’s determination to curb the menace of terrorism in its own interest and called for equipping Pakistan with modern security tools and technology to proactively fight the terrorists “on our terms”.

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari Monday while calling to make cricket a vehicle of national integration by holding inter-regional matches, urged veteran cricketers to convene a roundtable for revival of the game at national level.

Addressing a prize distribution ceremony here at the President House to give away prizes to winners of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Memorial Cricket the President recalled that Pakistan once led the cricket world and won several international laurels. He however regretted that over the past few years, the quality of the game had declined and there was a need that veteran cricket players, coaches and captains sit together to formulate a strategy for its revival. President Zardari extended full support of the government in this regard and said cricket “can serve as a vehicle for greater national integration by holding more inter-regional and inter-provincial matches.” He said the roundtable should come up with recommendations for launching cricket across the country at school and college level, so that young and fresh blood is inducted, that can be groomed and trained for serving at the national level. The President suggested that the large corporations sponsor teams at different tiers to cultivate young cricketers who can win laurels for the country.

The President earlier distrib0uted trophies and souvenirs among the participants of the cricket matches, organized by Shaheed Z. A. Bhutto sports society, with Pakistan Cricket Control Board as the patron. The Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Memorial Cricket Championship matches were played on league basis in Islamabad, Lahore, Hyderabad and Karachi by sixteen national teams. The final in Islamabad was won by Rawalpindi Cricket Association against the Port Qasim Trust Authority team. National level teams from PIA, HBL, NBP and other organizations participated in the matches.